The CLOUD. It’s been on everyone’s radar the past few years. Well, everyone in IT at least.

But even non-IT folks must’ve seen the topic at least once in the latest news, tucked somewhere in the Technology section or Business front-page even. It’s the future, and many resource articles have been strong in pointing out the high demand roles that will be coming in the near future. Cloud designer, network engineer, and infrastructure admin took the top spots for most sought position in the next year; while system admin and front-end support might take a hit.

And with that with last week’s BUILD conference hype on Windows 8 family, it’s easy to be excited to know where Server 8 will be in terms of cloud technology. Last week was interesting as Win8 blog pointed out the newly polished Hyper-V extension as it unleashed the potential for scalable virtualization (VMware is going to the dodo path unless they can come up with some serious feature and slashed cost – Hyper-V comes free with Server 8!), but Ars Technica’s cloud article took another step further: Server 8 – build for for the cloud.
The article goes in-depth on further Hyper-V enhancements (3 new management tools, bye-bye MMC!) and considering those features, it will streamlined the cloud infrastructure design (no more virtual NIC for clients and light-weight powershell on steroid management) with less 3rd party integration.

Now, there are basically 3 different type of clouds; public, private, and community (and a couple types of hybrid mixed in). Naturally Server 8 seems to be focused more on the private kind, but with the deployment of tablets and cellphones and other personal devices, it could spread itself into the public/community market as well. Private sector seems to be more concerned with security enhancements and compliance processes, and the nay-sayers (yes Linux folks, I’m looking at you) will point out Window’s sketchy past, but I’m pretty confident it will get pushed further regardless considering the benefits of Server 8.

To end, I’ll post a quote from Ars’ article on Hyper-V new spec:

Host machines can have up to 160 logical processors and 2TB RAM. Virtual machines can have up to 32 cores and 512GB RAM, and with the new VHDX file format, virtual disks can be up to 16TB big (up from the current 2TB). The number of machines supported on a host will be limited only by resource availability with no fixed ratios.

ps: Here’s a quick wiki on Cloud Computing just to throw it in there too. Wikipedia Cloud-Computing

So I just saw the Wired article about Kinect sale is not doing so well in Japan. According to the people interviewed, many complains the Kinect uses too much room (space is a luxury for many Japanese dweller) and/or doesn’t have enough interesting games. It is known that many Japanese gamers prefer RPG or Fighting or RTS, where FPS shooters are more reserved to US and Europe. According to North-Americans who commented on the article, it’s more due to the fact Japanese are more partial to made-in-Japanese products (such as PS3), since the other motion-oriented console – Nintendo Wii – also requires room to play, and it sells just fine.

I personally think they’re both correct. Not only the having games you want to play is crucial, but the space to play them is just as important.

Well, then what about me?  I just recently got a free Xbox-360 from a laptop purchase, and I really want to experience the Kinect gaming (I think it’s the way of the future, period.) BUT other than a one or maybe 2 titles, I’m not really interested. Plus, the way my living room is setup, there’s a big couch going sideways nearly in front of the TV.

So connecting the dots between my personal dilemma, the Wired article, and the fact Kinect add-on (and its games) are not exactly selling like hotcakes in Canada, I think it’s safe to say that many North American gamers are in the same boat as myself. Most people are not sure about the game selection, and/or constrained space in front of the TV. The one difference with Japanese gamers is people would camp outside of GameStop for days Halo and Gears of Wars, so Xbox sans Kinect is still making money.

So come on, developers, create a Kinect game that can make me go “Oh! I’m SO buying Kinect for that!”.

Star Wars kinect game, where are you?

After reading an article from Gizmodo (Google Smash!) I had to refresh my old speculation of one day Google will rule the world. Or at least, the Internet.

I was a big fan of the Big ‘G’ ever since Gmail came out (at that point I was still searching with Yahoo though) and eventually the dominance of Google’s search engine wins me over. Over the year, Google Map/Earth, translate tools, Chrome, and the plethora of functionalities added to the search engine and Gmail convinced me enough that yes, Google will be to the Internet what Microsoft is to Operating System. The conqueror.

That said, the most unexpected turn happened when Google released the Android OS. I was skeptic and reluctant to accept the fact that Google is now trying to venture to a different industry (sort-to-speak), picking up challenges from other contenders such as Apple and Microsoft. That’s when I believed that even Google has a limit! If it is such a brutal conqueror, I suppose it can only conquer its own land. Still very much respectable and feared, but it’s not as godly as I vision it to be just a few years back.

Or is it? After reading Giz’s article, I couldn’t help to think maybe – just maybe – I was wrong to lose my faith in Google. With Android picking up steam more than anyone can imagine merely 2 years ago, tablets are invading homes, offering fiber to cities in America, is there really a limit of what they can do?

With the purchase of YouTube and a good investment in their mobile department, Google will one day able to connect every single aspect of your life to the world wide web. Waking up to the internet radio, checking today’s schedule from the cloud through your phone, the cheapest gas price from your app, finding place to eat, doing your banking, entertainment, the list just go on and on.

Competition-wise? I think looking the past years Google managed to pick the right battle at the right time. They forge alliances with the right people and introduce the best solution to the most basic challenges. Sure, they don’t really have an eye-popping innovation like the iPhone… but they manage to (in my honest opinion) take the best of it, do it a step better, and sell more of it cheaper. What’s holding them back from doing that to every single product out there?

Time, that’s it.

That’s it. Good bye comments.

After being in a hiatus for over 4 months I have 430+ comments and every single one of them (yes, I’ve checked) are spam. That’s WITH Captcha filter.

So since I wouldn’t be able to check the comments in a feasible frequency and to clean up the SQL, I believe when people actually would like to comment they have all my contact info in the writer’s bio.

Yay!

Men’s Journal: The Blind Man who Taught Himself to See 

Among many types of disability in life, blindness is the one that scared me the most. To hear, to smell, to walk, to breathe to name a few, are all special and beautiful skills that humans are designed to use and enjoy, and many take for granted. To lose an ability or sense is such a tragedy indeed, but personally, to lose the ability to see must be my most dreaded disability.

The article linked above tells the story of a person who completely lost his ability to see, yet able to develop one of his other ability to an uncanny level. I’ve heard story that blindness can cause a person to increase their sense of hearing, but to have an echolocation ability? In other words, to fly as good (and as blind) as a bat? That is an unbelievable skill and/or talent. To be completely honest, as I was reading it, I was saying to myself, this man must have super-power!

In my personal opinion, the story of Daniel Kish is one that can really spark a hope to one of the biggest disability of human kind; blindness. And it definitely sparked my afternoon to a new level. And hopefully it can do the same to you

Now if only more research can be done in this field…

Link: Men’s Journal

A pain on my butt the past few months on the last few revisions of VLC players is the problem of skipping back when playing Matroska (.MKV) files. The problem is when it catches a chapter transition, it would skip back to the beginning of the video or the previous chapters.

So far, possible solutions are to manually skip ahead or fast forward right before chapter change, or really, just use Classic Media Player (CMP). But I’m not into switching VLC and other player when playing my videos, so I tried to find another solution.

And I finally find a working work-around! The source is here: VideoLAN Forum

To quote,

After tinkering around with some settings, I found a work-around to the problem.
1) Preferences -> show all settings
2) Input/Codecs -> Demuxers -> Matroska
3) Untick “Ordered Chapters”

I’ve tested it with VLC 1.1.5 to 1.1.7. The last step is to restart the player once you save the changes, and you’re good to go! Thank you, gaz090!

Remember my previous post of “definitely waiting the most for BF3″? That’s because I was an avid BF2 player. Yessir, I was damn good at it. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. Best persistant FPS multiplayer of all time. The game has EVERYTHING – dedicated servers, jets, chopper, boats, tanks, buggies, huge map, 64-player rounds, and beneficial persistent progress. Love it. Can’t wait for BF3 for a graphic upgrade. Heck, they can re-release BF2 with a modified new engine and I’ll be allover it.

Well, looks like they went above and beyond on my expectation. Check out the video below.

Sure it doesn’t give out much, but heck, forget all other games. This is one game I’ll be playing for the next few years. No doubt.

As the previous post outlined, there are many good games coming out this year. One of the important one I forgot to mention is Guild Wars 2.

GW2 is the sequel of the popular Guild War MMO. It’s a massively-multiplayer online game that has serious storyline and gameplay structure, and to top it all off (since it’s an anomaly of the MMO genre) there’s no monthly fee. Yup, it’s all free.

To further reiterate the point that there’s no monthly fee, most gamers (including myself) will be mostly charmed by this single factor. Aside the obvious financial reason, the fact that there’s no monthly fee gives the freedom to the players to play whenever they wish and as long as they want. There’s no pressure on completing a certain quest now since you can do next month or next year. There’s no pressure on leveling fast since there’s no time limit for everybody, so you don’t have to rush just so you can play with your max-level friends… since they’re all taking their time any way. Sure some might argue, certain group of players are *hardcore*. They still want to level as fast as they want. Well, then I recommend looking for a different group to play! Don’t worry, with a solid game and no monthly fee, there will be a good stream of new players all the time. Look at the original Guild War!

Speaking of gameplay, I won’t explain it in detail, but check this out: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/dynamic-events/dynamic-events-overview/

In an overview, questing is no longer a block of text. Grouping is no longer calculating who gets what kill and which loot. You see and hear what’s happening, and you take action. With or without (some better with) other players. And there’s permanent consequences on the world out of the result of such events.

Those two points combined, plus a solid graphic and engaging combat, I don’t see how Guild Wars 2 can fail the MMO community’s expectation.

Epic Video below:

Here it is. 220 days since the last post, it’s finally coming back again. No more excuses, just trying to pick up where I left off.

Apparently, the main reason I brought my attention back here is that I bumped to this certain blog that I made a post about before, and the blogger is actually kind enough to leave a comment here; it’s called Jakartass - one of the best resource out there to see an insider view of Jakarta from an expat point of view!

Another note is, 2011 seems to be shaping up to be a great gaming year for the PC. Some of the best ones that have been on my radar since last year is finally coming to fruition. Among all, the one I’m waiting the most is definitely Battlefield 3. Honorable mentions are the 14-years delayed Duke Nukem Forever, highly anticipated Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, The Witcher 2, Assasin’s Creed Brotherhood, and, hopefully… Diablo 3. Yes, Blizzard is still wishing that it’ll make it this year……

That’s all for now.

Can’t resist to post this one…

A security analyst (and a Black Hat USA speaker this year) created a phony profile (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) on the internet and proceeded to social-engineered as many poor victims to accept “her” as a friend. The project ran for a month and it was completely published for research purposes only.

Among its many victims were

She scored connections with people in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIO of the NSA, an intelligence director for the U.S. Marines, a chief of staff for the U.S. House of Representatives, and several Pentagon and DoD employees. The profiles also attracted defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Booz Allen Hamilton.

If that’s not impressive enough, I don’t know what is.

Full article here:  Dark Reading